PRESENTATION TO MAJOR VINE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 264, 4 August 1919, Page 10

PRESENTATION TO MAJOR VINE

Major Vine, who has severed his connection with Base ittcords Olhco, was on Saturday met by the staif and presented with a condiment service. The presentation was made by LitHit.-Coloncl ltoach, who conveyed to Major Vino tlje best wishes of tho stall'. In acknowledging tho gift, Major Vine said that during ilis more than four years' experience no had nover known tho Base- Kecoida stall' i-o harbour a proved shirker. On tho contrary, tlhore wero many instances where, among the- younger male members, when the call came to enter camp and tho barrier' of physical unhtuess did not prohibit, it wad obeyed with cheerfulness and alacrity. Soma who went out had returned bearing scars that wero tho ineffaceable, evidence of duty nobly dono on the field of battle. Others, unfortunately, would never return. Visualising the roll of honour, ho said that first on the list appeared tho name of Lieutenant Liardet. Lieutenant Liardet was a member of the Samoan Advance Uuard, and on his return co New Zealand early in 1915 held the position of otticcr m charge of records until again called up lor service with the ltiiie Brigade. Next nppearul the nam-" of Captnin Skolley, who, in the earlier monilis of tho war was Assisumt-Adju-tant-Ueneral at Gontral Headquarters, and in that capacity had uiucn to do with tho creation ol the records branch. Other ollicers whose 'names appeared wero Lieutenant Tegner Lieutiiiaut Le Creu, and Lieutenant Jlassey. Lieutenant Tegner was appointed to a commission in tho Indian Army, and met with untimely death in lacsopotanini. In examination for commissioned rank at Trentham Lieutenant Lo (Jren stood highest in a long list of competitors, lie met his death on tho Western front. Lieutenant Alassey was one of tiie heruts of Gallipoli, where his constitution was undermined to' such an extent that iie was uuablo to successlully ombat a severe illness chat ended his life pome months ago. As an auxiliary to the great war ma crime, -Base ltecords, with its sister branch of Pay and Allotment*!, had rendered valuublo service—a. service that would bo not less appreciated in future years than it was at the present time. Tho creation of the branch was not a one-man job; it was a task to which each individual member of the staff contributed in a degree proportionate to his or her responsibility. But in tho apportionment of the measuro of praiso that was the roward of tho individual, the services of Mr. Joseph jiroadfoot. demand special recognition. Mr. Ilrnadfoofs services with the branch had lorn: since boen severed. As a record expert he was loaned to tho Department by the Public Service Commissioners for tho purpose of inaugurating a eastern suited to tho requirements of the Doienoo Porccs. it was no reileafiuu on tho earlier officers of the Expeditionary Porccs w bay that they we're too greatly 'concerned with tho training and equipment of their units to pay much attention to the importance ut leaving bohind them a satisfactory record whereby each man could bo identified., That waa not regarded by them as their job, and it was loft to Mr. Broadfoat to see that tho work was done. The amount of labour entailed was not known to many, but it was a valuable testimony. to the thoroughness of If. Broadfoofs system that in no instance had it been impossible to identify a member of the New Zealand .Expeditionary force by the official papers left behind in New Zealand. Complications »nay have arisen where soldiers attested under an assumed name, but iHiuculbes such as these were not the fault of (he general system. Official connection- with tho branch had brought him into personal communication with hundreds of next-of-kin scattored throughout tho length and breadth of New Zealand, aud to one and all of these, and tho public- generally, he tendered sincere thanks for their unstinted appreciation of his services.